Jett Lawrence at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool
Motocross

AMA Supercross Round 15 Report: Jett inches closer to title

Jett Lawrence grabbed his seventh win of the season in Philadelphia to widen his championship lead.
By Chase Stallo
6 min readPublished on

Summary

  1. 1
    450SX Main Event Results
  2. 2
    250SX East Region Results
  3. 3
    450SX Point Standings
  4. 4
    250SX East Region Standings
The last time AMA Supercross visited Philadelphia prior to Saturday was 44 years ago at the long-gone John F. Kennedy Stadium. While the venue would be new on the schedule, the stakes were still the same: Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence and Cooper Webb were separated by just five points in the 450SX championship battle with just three rounds remaining in the series.
Jett Lawrence at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

Jett Lawrence at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

While both were fast in qualifying, it was Jett’s older brother and teammate Hunter Lawrence setting the fastest time over Webb. The title contenders were once again in the same heat, but neither would win, as Eli Tomac took the heat over Webb as Jett was forced to come from last to four after going down early. None of that seemed to matter for Jett in the main event. For the second straight week he put on a clinic, grabbing the holeshot over Webb and Tomac and steadily pulled a gap lap after lap to grab his seventh win on the season.
There was big movement in the championship behind Jett, though. Webb tried to pressure Jett early but couldn’t close on the race leader. Late in the race, Webb said he got tight and lost second to Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton. Then, on the final lap in the final corner, Jason Anderson made a pass on Webb. The two would collide in the corner with Webb going down and Anderson taking third. Webb would quickly remount to take fourth, but he lost valuable championship points in the process late in the race.
Jett Lawrence at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

Jett Lawrence at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

“There's only really one option with the start is: get a good start and be up there,” said Jett. “And on this track, that's a little difficult to pass [on], it definitely helped [to get the holeshot]. Nailed my start finally and I know we're still focusing on each race. I mean, [the] job’s not done yet so we're going to stay focused and make sure we execute these last two rounds.”
“I think, yeah, I had a little bit more of my normal speed,” said Sexton. “I haven't really had it all year. So, I feel like I'm kind of coming into form and it's been a trying year. It's been a lot of learning. And, yeah, I feel like I've grown a lot and it's made me better.”
Chase Sexton at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

Chase Sexton at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

With his win, Jett has stretched his lead to 15 points over Webb with just two rounds remaining.
Coming into the penultimate round of the 250SX East Region, Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle had a singular focus: stay ahead of Haiden Deegan. With Cameron McAdoo ruled out for the remainder of the series earlier in the week, Deegan was the lone rider that was within striking distance of Vialle in the championship. Trailing Vialle by 13 points heading into Saturday night, Deegan needed to win and get some help from the Frenchman.
In the main event, to the delight of a huge crowd, it was Pennsylvania’s own Seth Hammaker with the holeshot over Max Anstie and Jalek Swoll. Meanwhile, title contenders Vialle and Deegan were buried in the pack and had to come through traffic if they were going to contend for podiums. Hammaker had the crowd on their feet as he led the opening 11 laps, but Anstie was able to use a great line in the sand section to catch and pass Hammaker on lap 11. With a clear track, Anstie started to distance himself from Hammaker and Swoll. With just a few laps remaining, Swoll began to close on Hammaker for second and was using the triple jump line into the sand turn to try and make a pass. Late in the race, Swoll pulled the trigger on the line and Hammaker wasn’t expecting it and the two collided and went down. They would both get back up and finish the race with Hammaker taking seventh over Swoll in eighth.
Tom Vialle at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

Tom Vialle at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

With both riders down, this allowed a hard charging Vialle to claim second behind Anstie, with Deegan in third.
“Man, I know you Philly crowd were cheering for Seth… It was so loud,” said Anstie. “It was crazy. I heard the crowd going wild and then I looked back and he wasn't there, and I don't know what happened. But man, obviously it was an exciting race. We needed this.”
Behind his second-place finish, Vialle picked up two more points in the championship and now holds a 15-point lead over Deegan with just the Salt Lake City finale left to run.
“I didn't think about it yet, so I have to go home and think a little bit,” said Vialle on his approach to being conservative next weekend. “But, no, when I come to the race, I just wanna do my best and of course, you can do on the last one, stupid mistake or try to do stupid stuff, but I'm just gonna do my own race. I'm a bit of starting this weekend because I was pretty, pretty far in the main event and, no, I think I'm gonna go to the last one and just try the best as I can.”
Pierce Brown at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

Pierce Brown at AMA Supercross Series Round 14 in Philadelphia

© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas’ Pierce Brown was having a season-best night, as he sat third entering the final lap. As he came around to take the white flag, Brown caught some wheel spin on the takeoff and cross-rutted going up the face of the jump, causing him to eject from his bike in midair and he landed on the soft spot on the downside of the finish line landing. Luckily Brown was able to get up and finish the race in 14th.
Round 15 of AMA Supercross takes place in Denver, CO, on Saturday, May 4.
01

450SX Main Event Results

  1. Jett Lawrence
  2. Chase Sexton
  3. Jason Anderson
  4. Cooper Webb
  5. Eli Tomac
  6. Justin Barcia
  7. Hunter Lawrence
  8. Malcolm Stewart
  9. Dylan Ferrandis
  10. Justin Cooper
02

250SX East Region Results

  1. Max Anstie
  2. Tom Vialle
  3. Haiden Deegan
  4. Daxton Bennick
  5. Chance Hymas
  6. Coty Schock
  7. Seth Hammaker
  8. Jalek Swoll
  9. Preston Boespflug
  10. Nick Romano
03

450SX Point Standings

  1. Jett Lawrence 311
  2. Cooper Webb 299
  3. Eli Tomac 270
  4. Chase Sexton 268
  5. Jason Anderson 244
  6. Ken Roczen 223
  7. Aaron Plessinger 198
  8. Justin Cooper 189
  9. Justin Barcia 182
  10. Hunter Lawrence 178
04

250SX East Region Standings

  1. Tom Vialle 158
  2. Haiden Deegan 143
  3. Pierce Brown 124
  4. Coty Schock 121
  5. Cameron McAdoo 120
  6. Max Anstie 119
  7. Daxton Bennick 106
  8. Jalek Swoll 103
  9. Chance Hymas 101
  10. Seth Hammaker 87
Motocross